Activity logs allow individuals and corporations to record activity times and the location that the task or activity was performed. This information is useful for keeping record of past activities, generating reports for accounting or professional services purposes, evaluating the time expended on a task or project, ensuring that tasks are performed on schedule, managing resources to ensure that tasks or projects are completed within budget, and planning for future activities.
Activity logs generally rely on manual input by a user or employee. For example, a person may keep a log indicating when the person entered or exited a location. The person may then manually calculate the elapsed time between when the person entered and exited the location. The person may also use an electronic device for inputting the time and location data associated with a task or project. For instance, the person may use a spreadsheet on a computer or professional services software to manually enter the time and location information.
Manual data entry tasks encounter several problems. For instance, data entry is a tedious and time-consuming task that interrupts a user from their activity or task. Additionally, data entry relies on the ability of the user to accurately remember and input the data. A user may not enter time entries as they occur and then must recall the time data later. There may also be typos and other errors that reduce the accuracy of manually entered data. Additionally, a client who performs cash accounting may only pay for services or sale of products billed in the period (e.g. month, quarter, etc.) for which they occur. Thus, any billable time data reported late may not be paid by the client. These issues can cause significant problems, particularly for employees who face deadlines and other time constraints when performing activities and tasks at different work sites or project locations.